Twitter beats on earnings and revenue, warns expenses will grow

The company warned it expects headcount growth of more than 20% this year, with overall expenses increasing more than 25%.

Twitter’s stock was up slightly in after-hours trading Tuesday after the social media company reported its fourth-quarter earnings, beating Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations although failing to meet user growth expectations.

Here are the key numbers:

• Earnings per share: 38 cents, adjusted, vs. 31 cents forecast by Refinitiv
• Revenue: $1.29 billion vs. $1.19 billion forecast by Refinitiv
• Monetizable daily active users (mDAUs): 192 million vs.5 million expected, according to StreetAccount

Twitter said it expects revenue to grow faster than expenses in 2021, assuming the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic continues and taking into account an expected “modest impact” from Apple’s upcoming privacy changes to iOS 14.

However, the company warned it expects headcount growth of more than 20% this year, with overall expenses increasing more than 25%.